AIA Group Ltd Has $48.65 Million Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

AIA Group Ltd boosted its holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 174,999 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,688 shares during the quarter. Danaher accounts for approximately 1.3% of AIA Group Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest position. AIA Group Ltd’s holdings in Danaher were worth $48,653,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC raised its holdings in Danaher by 3.2% in the third quarter. Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC now owns 238,092 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $66,194,000 after purchasing an additional 7,421 shares during the period. Good Life Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Danaher in the third quarter worth $217,000. Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new stake in Danaher in the second quarter worth $363,000. Diversified Trust Co raised its holdings in Danaher by 75.4% in the second quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 4,360 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,090,000 after purchasing an additional 1,874 shares during the period. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 15.6% during the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 15,657 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,910,000 after acquiring an additional 2,116 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DHR has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Danaher from $270.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of Danaher in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $280.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $333.00 to $311.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Leerink Partners raised their price objective on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $275.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $287.16.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE DHR opened at $246.10 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $265.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $260.75. Danaher Co. has a 52 week low of $192.35 and a 52 week high of $281.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $177.75 billion, a PE ratio of 46.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.54 and a beta of 0.85.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.14. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.62% and a net margin of 16.39%. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.59 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.02 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 27th were given a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 27th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. Danaher’s payout ratio is 20.61%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 952 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.37, for a total value of $255,488.24. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,130,374.44. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 10.90% of the company’s stock.

About Danaher

Danaher Corporation designs, manufactures, and markets professional, medical, industrial, and commercial products and services worldwide. The Biotechnology segments offers bioprocess technologies, consumables, and services that advance, accelerate, and integrate the development and manufacture of therapeutics; cell line and cell culture media development services; cell culture media, process liquids and buffers for manufacturing, chromatography resins, filtration technologies, aseptic fill finish; single-use hardware and consumables and services, such as the design and installation of full manufacturing suites; lab filtration, separation, and purification; lab-scale protein purification and analytical tools; reagents, membranes, and services; and healthcare filtration solutions.